Wieliczka, Poland

Jordan and I had never been to a Salt Mine before, so with one so close, we figured we gotta check it out.  When visiting Kraków we took a half day trip to Wieliczka to explore "Koplania Soli"-or-The Wieliczka Salt Mine.

I should tell you, that Pope John Paul III is from this area, so there are some tributes to him around the city.

Get your hard-hats ready, we are about to go into the mine down the Danilowicz Shaft! When I look back at photos, in my head I can hear the tour guide saying, "Only 298 steps left till we've reached the first level".  Ummm what?!First Level?! How far below ground is this mine? Only 64 meters to the first level and then it's down, down, down you go from there...Luckily there's an elevator up! 

 During out tour we walked 3 of the 178 miles through caverns and tunnels

Did you know that not all salt is white like table salt?  In the mine, the raw rock salt looks like a mottled gray color, but when you put a light up to it, you can almost see through the hard compressed rock.  If you don't believe that the gray walls are salt, all it takes is a lick of your tongue for some re-assurance.

When water seeps through cracks and the crystals dissolve they reappear as brilliant, tangled, fragile formations...Look at the "cauliflower" course salt!

When the mine was active they used to lower down baby horses to help run the mechanics of the mine. These horses would never see the light of day again, because they would grow up to be too big to fit up the shafts they would spend their entire lives down below ground.

How the salt got to Wieliczka is a good fairytale, because there's a Princess involved.  According to legend, when Princess Kinga of Hungary got engaged to the King of Boleslaw she threw her engagement ring into Hungary's salt mines. Somehow this was supposed to guide her to the salt supplies in her new adopted country of Poland, and when miners started drilling in Wieliczka, they not only found salt, but the engagement ring itself.  Miners in their free time would carve out of salt, and they made a scene of the Princess being proposed to:

The miners carved so many different statues...even the 7 dwarfs, all made of salt.

Out of the empty caverns from their salt harvest they made a beautiful church, and the decor is made entirely of salt; chandeliers and everything!

It's hard to believe this is salt!

Gotta get the selfie in

Crazy cool huh!?!

The museum had a great display of different color salts like I was explaining earlier.

Before heading into Kraków we grabbed some traditional Polish food at Karczma Halit, and it was de-lish. We started off with some of the best borscht I have ever had, and they put little beef perogies inside. Yumm Yumm!

...and for our main course we had a mixture of perogies (some with meat, mushrooms, cabbage, and all the good stuff).

Now off to Kraków we go!

Olomouc, Czech Republic

Did you know that Olomouc is pronounced as "Olla-moats".  I didn't realize it sounds so different than it's written!  The best part about Olomouc is it's town square.

The square is alive with things to see, and cafes to relax in!

The town's pride and joy is the Holy Trinity Column in the middle of the square.  

It is allegedly the biggest single baroque sculpture in Central Europe and in 2000 the column was awarded an inscription on USECO's World Heritage List!  Here's a close-up:

The water statues around it are pretty impressive, and considering it was such a hot day, it was nice to dip our fingers into to cool down.  Side story: For some reason on this trip I thought we were going to the arctic, and so I only packed jeans.  Well, when it's 80 degrees out and you're in long pants and shirt it gets HOT! Thankfully Olomouc has an H&M where I had to stop into to find a nice light travel dress.  Moral of the story: ALWAYS look at the weather where you are going, it may not be like the weather from where you are coming!

Jordan's favorite thing about the town square was situated along the Town Hall building. Can you guess what that was?  The Olomouc Astronomical Clock! The clock's appearance dates back to the 1950's and depicts a time of socialist realism, and the working class. 

 Lot's going on here...but so cool!

Walking back to our car we found a "Stolperstein" or "stumbling block". They are golden cobblestones found inlayed in the ground, and were created by an artist to recognize victims of the Nazi Party.

Onto the next stop!

Třebíč, Czech Republic

As we moved farther East we visited the town of Třebíč, one of the cities that Jordan served his mission in. 

Třebíč proved to be another wonderful Czech town.  We went to St Procopius' Basilica, which dates back to the early 12th century. 

It's a beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a great place to get a view of the city.

The best part about Třebíč (in my opinion) was the Jewish quarter.  While Prague's Jewish Quarter was packed with tourists, I felt like in Třebíč we had the entire Jewish town to ourselves!  Today it is the largest Jewish quarter in Europe and protected by UNESCO. 

The Jewish Ghetto in Třebíč dates back to the 14th century, and was always relatively small.  After the Holocaust there were only 10 surviving Třebíč Jews, and what's left, although it seems lonely and neglected, feels so authentic.  The houses feel frozen in time, for over 60 years!

New vs. Old

I loved visiting the Jewish cemetery, and it made me feel so good to know that Jordan had been there years before to do a service project helping to preserve the grave sites.  Tolerance is a beautiful thing I tell ya!

The cemetery is covered with spreading ivy and a commotion of 4,000 gravestones-the oldest dating back to 1631.  

 Some newer grave sites...

...and some so old you can't even tell when they date back to!

Traveling along the Czech byways is sure nice, we are really enjoying the traditional towns!

Telč, Czech Republic

On our Memorial day Holiday weekend we headed East-to a few Czech towns, and then Poland. When Jordan got off work Thursday we buckled up, and hit the road.   The drive was really beautiful, we took the back roads through the Czech Republic; the forest areas were gorgeous and full of green!

We stayed the night at Hotel Artaban, in a quaint little Czech town.  The hotel was the only one in this town, and I am pretty sure we were the only ones checked in, not bad for a night stay though.

The following morning we drove to Telč, a UNESCO town perched on the border of Bohemia and Moravia in Czech.  The town square is called Náměstí Zachariáše z Hradce (I can't really pronounce it, but Jordan can) and it is one of the country's prettiest and best-preserved historic town squares I have seen!

The houses were built in the Renaissance sgraffito style in the 16th century and a few rebuilt in the18th century with ornate baroque facades.

These were some of my a favorites up close:

 I mean, there is some serious detail work on these buildings!

And what do you know, they even have free drinking water, drink up Jordie!

The Marian column in the middle of the square dates back to 1717, and is a great addition to the beautiful surroundings.

 ...and don't forget the saint statue!

And there you have it, the cute and quaint area of Telč Czech Republic.

 Next up on the Czech train: Třebíč!